Officials in Louisiana say an 84-year-old man has died from hypothermia and that his wife was hospitalized because her body temperature had dropped to troubling levels.

Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriff Bud Torres tells The Advocate that deputies found Paul Maker around 11 a.m. Wednesday after receiving a 911 call from a neighbor who routinely checked on the couple.

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Chief Deputy Coroner Joe Gannon says the temperature in the house was approximately 20 degrees when authorities arrived. The coroner pronounced Maker dead upon arrival. Officials say Maker’s wife was taken to a hospital because her body temperature had dropped to troubling levels.

"She would have been next, I think," Gannon said. "This was a really old couple in an old house with poor heating."

The couple were disabled and got around by using wheelchairs.

"He was in the house with his wife and they were deathly afraid of running their space heaters overnight," Torres said. "This is just a sad situation."

The couple had been married for 60 years. They had moved to New Roads from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.